OP Awareness
Council takes to heart its mandate to heighten awareness of the issues
facing us. Our activities on this front cover the range from history made
to history in the making.
• Distribution of record-breaking quantities of the Passover
Supplemental Haggaddah Readings, which include passages about
Soviet Jewry, Ethiopia, the Holocaust and hunger and homelessness,
and The Unlit Menorah, highlighting the plight of Soviet Jews who
may not be able to light their own menorah on Chanukah, brought
awareness to tens of thousands of homes this year.
• Council, along with councils from all over the state, coordinated the
annual State of Michigan Holocaust Commemoration at the state
capitol in Lansing.
• Maryann Mahaffey, Detroit City Council President, spoke to the
Council board of directors about dealing with the challenges faced by
Detroit and its suburbs.
• At the forefront of our work to promote respect for cultural diversity
and religious pluralism was our Community Assembly on "The
December Dilemma."
• Last year's Youth Yom HaShoah (Holocaust commemoration) was so
popular that Council undertook to coordinate the program this year,
too, in conjunction with C.H.A.I.M. and the Jewish Educators Council.
Students from Jewish schools combined their talents in a program of
poetry, drama and song.
• Howard Wolpe spoke of his efforts toward effecting the rescue of the
15,000 Jews still trapped in Ethiopia to attendees of Council's
September Community Assembly.
• Business, education and organizational leaders used Council's
Holiday Calendar to promote ethnic and religious sensitivity when
scheduling public and private events and programs.